Oh my flippin' GOSH!
Woke up yesterday morning around 4 am, got up, turned on the lights and climbed right back into bed. Sooo tired. But I was soon WIDE AWAKE.
As I am laying there thinking of all I had to accomplish, I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye and turn my head to see.........................
A snake going under my club chair and ottoman.
At first I thought I was dreaming but all of the kitty gang was gathered around the place so I jumped out of bed to investigate. I could hear it under the chair. RATTLING.
Oh for the love of Pete's Dragon!!!
Grabbed as many cats as I could and shoved them into the kitty cage and went back to get the others. When they were safe I took the dogs to the dog yard so they would be safe. Got back to the chair and sure enough, I could still hear it when I stepped close.
So I started taking all of the furniture around the chair outside.....tables, book cases, entertainment unit and THEN in my high rubber boots, thick jeans and with a trusty shovel moved that chair!
And there it went! Right under? The sofa. GREAT.
So I move the chair outside, move the bed outside (remember I am in an itty bitty home with one big room and a bathroom), moved the side tables out, moved the dresser out and THEN moved the sofa!
And there it went! Right under? My fabric dresser. GREAT.
Now this is no ordinary dresser. It is just under 5foot high, has 16 HEAVY drawers and is in 2 pieces. (For ease of moving? Yeah right!)
So I unloaded the drawers. One by one and took them outside. Sure enough on the final 4 bottom drawers the snake moved under the one next to the one I moved out. He finally ran out of room to run and there he was. All coiled up in the corner of the dresser frame waiting to strike.
To say I was a little freaked out would be an understatement! I kept looking at him to try to figure out exactly what I was dealing with and lo and behold when I looked close enough, he was NOT rattling, he was HISSING! He was a little gopher snake.
Now when I say little, I am comparing him to the BIG rattler and the BIG California King snakes I had found OUTSIDE my house. This guy in comparison was small, about 18 inches. I grabbed my trusty long handled reacher that I purchased from the 99 cent only story and used it to get that angry little gopher snake OUT of my dresser and subsequently OUT of my house. He immediately went under the porch which seems to be a condominium for all the local snakes. But at least he is UNDER my house and not IN my house. Before I put the furniture back into the house, I searched everywhere to see just how that angry little snake got in.
I did not find anything except the unused dryer vent. So I cut a circle of cardboard, flanged it and duct taped it to the inside opening of the dryer vent.(I do not use a dryer. I have Arizona sunshine for free. Why would I need a dryer???)
I could have just used duct tape for the job but I got to imagining another snake trying to come through there and getting stuck on the tape. I am a pretty brave person, but not brave enough to save a snake from being stuck to duct tape. But on top of that cardboard circle is probably half a roll of tape....
Why Cate has gray hair........And do NOT ask me why I have no photos. HA! I am lucky I am alive. Yes, the snake was not poisonous but I ask you this....
What is the difference of expiring due to a poisonous snake bite or having a heart attack because a NON-poisonous snake runs across your foot? Either way you are dead. Or at least mostly dead. And in that case you will need Miracle Max.
